Sunday, July 19, 2009

Dr. Mintz on Avandia

Two years after the Avandia brouhaha Dr. Mintz has offered some needed perspective.

Backing up a bit, last year he noted VADT, which appeared to absolve Avandia of any role in promoting macrovascular disease.

Earlier this month he cited the RECORD study which also appeared to vindicate Avandia of any role in causing myocardial infarctions. In the body of that post and in the comments there is an interesting discussion about whether Nissen's meta-analysis and the way it was handled had political motivation. Dr. Mintz believes it did. I have believed so too ever since watching the Avandia hearings which I blogged about here.

In a more recent follow up post about the Avandia hype Dr. Mintz addressed possible patient harm. There's little doubt in my mind that irrational fears deprived many patients of potential benefits of TZD therapy. But what's irrefutable is that politics and the media hijacked the discussion with the result that reasoned, nuanced scientific debate over Avandia never had a chance.